Redbridge did not receive an invite this year or last year - we have been previously as Area winners but saw the contest as a step too far after Shield and Masters in May. If we did (somehow) win and qualify for Europe we couldn't afford to go anyway so a bit pointless in all honestly.

This year we were next in line after you at GUS Mike, but didn't receive an invite

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In which case i guess you are questioning why one band imparticular perhaps has an invite and you don't. Again it's never clear because they pick the top ten bands from the 4BR rankings at a particular point in time (April last year i seem to remember). Of course, what with the 4BR ranking that everybody holds so dear being updated very infrequently these days (which has become a farce with no tranparency and no credibility for determining contst line ups in my opinion) and no option to look back retrospectively at where your position was at a certain point, its almost impossible to work out who was where when they decided on the line up and reserves.......

In which case i guess you are questioning why one band imparticular perhaps has an invite and you don't. Again it's never clear because they pick the top ten bands from the 4BR rankings at a particular point in time (April last year i seem to remember). Of course, what with the 4BR ranking that everybody holds so dear being updated very infrequently these days (which has become a farce with no tranparency and no credibility for determining contst line ups in my opinion) and no option to look back retrospectively at where your position was at a certain point, its almost impossible to work out who was where when they decided on the line up and reserves.......

There's a link to the original article posted on 4br. Said band has never been ranked above us, and Bayerd said his band were invited, which, correct me if i'm wrong is Wingates? I think, so strange that both bands have been invited, one accepting, one not, and we don't even get an invite. Perhaps our band room is in the wrong area.

(These aren't thoughts of the Flowers band, or management or anyone else involved with the running of the band, solely my own opinions)

So, if I understand correctly, a ticket to the European Championships is based on an invitation contest? Shall I state the bleedin' obvious or not? No wonder I'm getting more and more despondent with brass band contests organisers.

There's a link to the original article posted on 4br. Said band has never been ranked above us, and Bayerd said his band were invited, which, correct me if i'm wrong is Wingates? I think, so strange that both bands have been invited, one accepting, one not, and we don't even get an invite. Perhaps our band room is in the wrong area.

(These aren't thoughts of the Flowers band, or management or anyone else involved with the running of the band, solely my own opinions)

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Yes that's correct. We were asked about a month to 6 weeks ago. We declined for similar reasons to what Jezza has written above. I must admit, given our position, I was surprised to get the invite in the first place and upon reading the original article Pem received one above Flowers?...

Yes that's correct. We were asked about a month to 6 weeks ago. We declined for similar reasons to what Jezza has written above. I must admit, given our position, I was surprised to get the invite in the first place and upon reading the original article Pem received one above Flowers?...

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As far as i understand that is correct. As it happens i'm of the same opinion also, what with having Butlins, Yeovil, Areas, Grand Shield, Nationals and potentially the Open depending on what happens at the Grand Shield, adding in the English Nationals, as much as i like masquerade and would love to play it, having 5, potentially 6 contests already, adding the English Nationals doesn't really seem viable, even if you look purely at the cost in conductor fees through the extra rehearsals it really starts to mount up.

The only issue i have is that we weren't even invited, so am just questioning the integrity of the contest/contest organisers not so much who was invited instead.

The only issue i have is that we weren't even invited, so am just questioning the integrity of the contest/contest organisers not so much who was invited instead.

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Notwithstanding the fact that Flowers may not actually have accepted an invite anyway, I find it astonishing that the 9th best band in England - check out the updated brassstats rankings at the weekend - cannot even secure an invite! Add the fact that 3 of the 'top 8' (Brighouse, Grimethorpe and Carlton Main) have turned down their invites, and one of the form bands of 2012 so far can feel rightly aggrieved at the nonsensical qualification system. By any reasonable yardstick, Flowers is one of the top dozen bands in the world for heaven's sake!

It has to be a fairer system to invite all 6 of the English area champions, plus another 6 (say) from a rankings system.

For interest only, the brassstats ranking (post areas, to be published on 1 April), would have had invites issued to:

Brighouse*, Fairey, Foden's, Grimethorpe*, Carlton Main* and GUS

Three of these * have declined their actual invites it seems so next in the brassstats.com rankings list would be Rothwell, Marsden and Hepworth. Reg Vardy would be next (if required), and so on.

Incidentally, Paddy's updated rankings post-areas here would have an identical invitation list to mine, with the exception of Reg Vardy being in the 'group of 3' replacements instead of Hepworth (which would be next in line).

I'm not saying anything is dubious, but I am saying that there does appear to be a lack of transparency.

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Perhaps dubious wasn't the correct phrase at all, but i definitely agree there is a real lack of transparency in their rankings, they never state what any contest is worth, or a single break down of contests for each band, they just leave an air of secrecy around the whole system. But anyway, that's for another thread somewhere